Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is the next installment in the long-running shooter franchise that needs no introduction. This time around, its Treyarch’s turn and they are making another Black Ops game, the last of which was 2015’s Black Ops 3.

Black Ops 4 is set to be an interesting installment and something of an uncertain one. For the first time in Call of Duty history, there will be no campaign mode. It’s instead of being replaced by a Battle Royale mode of undetermined size. The traditional multiplayer and zombies components will make a return, however.

The game is also set to be “boots on the ground”, which is basically Call of Duty marketing speak for “don’t worry, there are no jetpacks”.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Beta – What We Know So Far

Treyarch has yet to announce when the beta will take place, or exactly what it will contain, but we can speculate based on what we do know. Firstly, we know that the beta will be available on both PS4 and Xbox One, with PS4 players getting early access to it, as was the case for last year’s game. The beta will also likely come to PC, probably at the same time it comes to Xbox One.

The beta is likely to be private, meaning that only people who have preordered can access it.

As for when it’ll take place, Call of Duty WW2’s beta ran at the end of August into early September. Black Ops 4 will be releasing October 12, however, a month earlier than WW2, so we expect the beta will run a bit earlier than last year’s, possibly early or mid August.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Gameplay, Features, and No Campaign

As we said, its set to have no campaign, a first for Call of Duty. Instead, there will be a Battle Royale in its place. A shame, really, since the Black Ops campaign was amongst the series’ best and most interesting.

The Battle Royale mode is still something of a mystery. The total player count has yet to be revealed, although it will likely be less than the standard 100 players that the genre has established (recent rumors suggest that it may be 60 players).

This doesn’t mean that there won’t be any single-player content, however. The popular Zombies mode will be making a return, and that can be played solo or with bots. There will also be single-player challenge levels.

The reason given by Treyarch for the lack of a single-player is as follows, “If you look at the Black Ops series and how players have interacted with it,” said Dan Bunting, the studio’s co-head, “it’s being more and more experienced as a social thing.” That basically means the single-player campaigns have proven less popular than the multiplayer modes in the past, so they’re doubling down on the multiplayer aspects.

As for the multiplayer, Treyarch is making some interesting changes. They are doing away with automatic health regen, instead opting to have players manually initiate the regen. They say this is to encourage players taking cover and seeking time to heal, in a way to make this a more meaningful part of the gameplay. As for weapons, they will be customizable with attachments, as usual, but there’s an interesting twist to the physics of weapons. Treyarch is introducing “predictive recoil”, which means that players who get to know their guns can rely on them to behave in the same way, in both actions and look.

The Zombies mode will start with three maps: an ancient Rome-style gladiator arena, an ocean-going liner out in the middle of the Atlantic, and a grisly prison. More will be added later with DLC packs post-release, although rumors suggest that the game’s DLC, which typically features a handful of multiplayer modes and a Zombies map, will not feature multiplayer maps, which will be free to all. That has not been confirmed, however.

Battle.net: No More Steam For Call of Duty?

This game will mark the first time a Call of Duty game has appeared on Blizzard’s Battle.net platform. The PC version will not be on Steam, as it usually is, but on Battle.net instead. A change that was arguably foreshadowed when Destiny 2 became the first non-Blizzard game to appear on Battle.net.

Are you excited for Black Ops 4? Do you think the absence of a campaign mode will be a bad thing? Are you looking forward to the Battle Royale mode? Let us know in the comments below!